Red Crystals
by hydrarianbeast
Summary: Molly Hale, now a teenager, is now entering the Johto League, having been inspired by her battle with Ash and his friends. On her way to New Bark Town to be registered, she runs into a mysterious trainer named Red. While they strive for there respective goals, Team Rocket is creating a new plan, unown to the rest of the world.


"Okay, I'm lost," I said aloud. Man, where the heck was New Bark Town? I wanted to get my pokedex. I remember my dream battles with Ash, Brock, and Misty. Now I was as old as I was when fighting Brock. I had a pokemon, but we still had a lot of work to do. Getting a pokedex was at the top of the list.

I saw a boy sitting on a tree stump on the side of the road. Oh my gosh he looked so much like Ash, down the pikachu in his lap. Both had a red vest, red and white hat, black hair. Only major difference between their hair was this boys fell straight under his hat, unlike Ash's, which was sporadically hidden under his. This guy also looked so much more professional.

"Excuse me," I said, running up to him, "do you know how to get to New Bark town?"

He nodded. "Follow this road and when you see a tree with a kakuna etched into it, turn right."

"Thanks." I was about to keep walking when a Spinarak practically fell on my face. I of course freaked out and fell, also scaring the pokemon, causing it to shoot me in the face with the sticky silk from its stringshot, then run off.

The boy smirked. "It seems you are a rather new trainer." He got up, his pikachu climbing to his shoulder, and offered me help up.

I took his hand. "Yeah. I'm not very good."

"How many pokemon and badges do you have?"

"Well, um, one pokemon and zero badges."

He smiled now. "So you don't know exactly what you're doing."

"I do to!" I scowled at him as he chuckled.

"Come on, I'll escort you to New Bark Town. What's your name?"

"Molly Hale."

"I'm Red."

Now I snickered. "Really. Red?"

"Yes. What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing, nothing," We walked down the peaceful road. "So do you have any gym badges?"

He pulled out a badge case and opened it up. I was impressed. "Sixteen badges? What other region did you go to?"

"Actually, it's what region I came from. I used to live in Kanto."

"Which starter did you pick?"

He smiled at his pikachu. "You're looking at him. Pikachu was my first pokemon. What about you?"

"I have a teddiursa."

"May I see him?"

I pulled out my pokeball. "Sure." I released my pokemon. "Teddiursa, this is Red."

He bent down to look at him. "He's cute. Can he battle?"

"Well," I looked at my pokemon, who was a bit nervous about this topic. "We can, but we aren't very good."

"Would you care to battle?"

"Uh, we would probably lose pretty bad."

"This isn't a battle meant to be won. I want to know what you can do." He pulled out a pokeball. "Snorlax, let's go."

His colossal pokemon appeared. "Now, have Teddiursa attack Snorlax."

"What?" I said in surprise. Teddiursa didn't look to keen on the idea either.

"He won't be hurt. I just want to see what you can do."

"Well, I guess we can." Teddiursa nodded and got ready. "Let's start with a scratch attack."

He ran forward, his claws poised to strike. Unfortunately he bounced back when he hit his opponent. Red, however, didn't think that was so bad. "Keep going."

"Um, try a leer."

Teddiursa tried to look intimidating, but it simply wasn't scary. Plus I wasn't even sure that Snorlax's eyes were open. Why were we doing this again? Red still watched with close observation.

I looked at Teddiursa. "Let's try our best move." He nodded, now looking a bit excited. "Now, run up and bounce off of Snorlax!"

Red looked a bit more alert at this. Teddiursa ran forward and leaped up onto his shoulder, which he bounced off of into the air. "Now use close combat!"

Teddiursa came down forcefully, punching very fast at Snorlax's head. When he was finished, he jumped off, and instinctively turned around, ready to block the retaliation. Unfortunately, all Snorlax did was scratch his head. We were nothing but a minor disturbance.

I sighed. "Well that sucked."

"Not necessarily," Red said, withdrawing Snorlax. "A teddiursa that knows close combat is pretty rare. You just need a bit of practice."

We continued walking, and soon came to the place I wanted to reach. New Bark Town. Finally, I could get my pokedex and register for the League. I had to admit, I was excited. Being a trainer had been my dream since I battled Ash and his friends.

We made it to the pokemon center, and Nurse Joy was already talking to someone. He had orange spiky hair. He reminded me of Gary Oak. Today was a serious déjà vu day.

Red almost smiled. "Long time no see."

The guy turned around. "Hey, Red! I've been looking for you. I heard you just beat the Johto League. What, you just had a whim to leave that snow covered mountain of yours?"

"Sounds right to me."

The guy took notice of me. "And who might you be? Did Red finally get a date?"

I rolled my eyes. "No. I'm Molly."

"I'm Blue." I almost snickered again. What was with the color names? If he noticed, he ignored it. "So what brings you to this small town?"

"I'm here to register for the Johto League."

"I'm on it," Nurse Joy said, walking away.

Blue smiled at Red. "So, Red, sounds like you might be up for another adventure."

"I don't know about that."

"Sure you know." He winked at me. "How about we make a bet. One battle, for old times' sake. You win: you get to choose if you go or not."

Red shrugged. "Fine. Let's make it a one on one battle."

"Sounds good to me." They both walked outside, and I followed. I was rather interested in seeing Red battle. Something just seemed professional about him, like he was the trainer all trainers wanted to be. We stopped around the other side of the building in an open area.

Blue pulled out a pokeball. "I'm bringing in a new face I've been training. Eevee, let's go!" He threw his pokeball, and the cute little pokemon appeared.

Red nodded to Pikachu, who hopped off his shoulder and faced his opponent. "You may have the first move."

"You got it. Eevee, use attract!" Eevee winked at Pikachu, and pink hearts flew from her to Pikachu. I thought this was a pretty good first move.

Red, on the other hand, was unfazed. "Iron tail to block."

Pikachu swung his tail, which had become silver, around in a circle, breaking all of the hearts. "Now hit Eevee."

Pikachu kept his momentum going, hit the ground and came spinning down on his opponent. Blue was ready. "Dodge with Dig!"

Eevee jumped away, and dug quickly into the ground. Pikachu's tail was still ready to strike. "Wait for the right moment," Red said. We waited. Soon the ground underneath Pikachu cracked. "Now." Pikachu jumped up, spinning again, and hit Eevee, who had just jumped out of the ground, hard on the head with his tail.

Eevee fell to the ground. "Hang in there," Blue said. "Try double team."

Multiple eevee appeared and surrounded Pikachu. Red was still unfazed. "Destroy them all with thunderbolt."

Pikachu spun in a circle, sending electricity flying from him, hitting every eevee, sending the real one flying. Red was through messing around. "Now finish it up with volt tackle."

Pikachu charged forward, becoming surrounded in electricity. He slammed into Eevee, who flew away, landing on the ground, unconscious. I was pretty impressed. Sure, that eevee wasn't exactly on his pikachu's level, but he was still good.

Blue withdrew his pokemon. "Still as good as ever, I see. This little battle should have given Nurse Joy enough time to register Molly into the League. Since I need to heal Eevee anyway, I'll take her in." He put his arm around me and led be back around the building.

"You know, I'm rather fascinated," he said. "Red isn't that social with people he doesn't know. He rarely ever leaves Mt. Silver. He must have gotten board, which is why he's down here. He probably made quick work of the Johto League."

"So?" I said, a little uncomfortable with his arm on me.

"Well, now not only is he wandering about, he's escorting a girl. He may be interested in your looks, talent, I don't know, but he has taken an interest, which means you must be something. I'll be rooting for you in the League."

We walked in the doors and Nurse Joy was waiting at the counter. "I finished registering you. Do you need directions to the lab to get your first pokemon?"

"That's okay. I already have one?" I took the pokedex from her. Around this time, Red came walking in. Blue winked at me, then started talking to Nurse Joy about healing his Eevee.

"So," I said, "I'm about to go on an adventure. You up for one?"

He smirked. I blushed. Wow that had sounded so much better in my head. He probably wouldn't want to travel with a loser like me anyway. But then he surprised me. "It beats going back to a freezing cold mountain. I'm in. Where do you want to start?"


End file.
